Fight for Blood (Blood Origins Book 2)
Page 1
Fight for
Blood Origin Series
Book 2
Tiffany Heiser
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons or events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Tiffany Heiser Published by Wil ow Moon Publishing 108
Saint Thomas Road Lancaster, PA 17601 wil ow-moon-publishing.com
Al rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by many means except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cataloging Data Heiser, Tiffany (1984- ) Fight for Blood/Tiffany Heiser–
1st U.S. Edition
Summary: Rena's world takes a turn into the supernatural when she finds out Cryder is not human and is destined to be with her. His destiny is irrevocably linked to Rena's. She’s forced to jump into this supernatural world without the time to consider the possibilities of this new world with vampires, because it looks like Cryder has brought more than his mysterious demeanor, but a rogue vampire hell-bent on taking her blood for his own. There’s nowhere to run, so Rena must learn to fight back and become the true person she was meant to be.
122 pages; 216 x 140 mm Paperback ISBN-13: 9798610224442
1.YoungAdult/Fiction/Romance/Paranormal.2.YoungAdult/Fiction/Roman
ce/Vampires 3. Young Adult/Fiction/Romance/General Yearn for Blood.
Heiser, Tiffany Printed in the United States on acid free paper Typeset: Sabon NextLT Edited by Kat Helgeson Design by Jodi Stapler
I'd love to dedicate this to my family and friends who have pushed me forward, and reminded me that I could do anything
that I put my mind to
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'd like to thank my family and friends, those that took time to
read what I wrote and to continue to push me. For those that
have been walking with me through the process and stayed on
the phone to listen to ideas, or long-winded ramblings; I adore
and appreciate each one of you and give my many thanks for
the support and love.
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Pg 8
Chapter Two
Pg 15
Chapter Three
Pg 23
Chapter Four
Pg 31
Chapter Five
Pg 38
Chapter Six
Pg 47
Chapter Seven
Pg 52
Chapter Eight
Pg 59
Chapter Nine
Pg 66
Chapter Ten
Pg 72
Chapter Eleven
Pg 79
Chapter Twelve
Pg 87
Chapter Thirteen
Pg 95
Chapter Fourteen
Pg 103
Chapter Fifteen
Pg 111
Fight for Blood
Chapter One
“Rena! Hey, Rena! Smile!”
I pivoted on the spot and faced my best friend Cecile’s
mother. Mrs. Danvers held up a camera and took a picture of me. I
had to struggle to hoist a smile onto my face, but I managed, barely.
This should have been one of the happiest days of my life.
I’d graduated high school, after all, something I’d spent most of the last few years looking forward to leaving behind me.
But that was when I thought high school would be followed
by the usual things. The normal things. College. Finding a job.
Getting an apartment on my own. Things I could look forward to in
an easy, uncomplicated way. I knew now that the life that awaited
me, the life I would be embarking upon this very night, would be the most complex thing I’d ever experienced.
Mrs. Danvers looked at the picture on her camera’s display.
“This is a good one,” she said enthusiastically. “I’m going to frame it and put it on the mantelpiece.”
The smile on my face was genuine this time. “I’m really
going to miss you,” I told her.
“Are you sure you girls want to do this backpacking through
Europe thing?” Mrs. Danvers asked.
I hated this conversation. She kept asking, and I knew that
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even though she was mostly joking, there was a part of her that
longed for me to say no; to renounce our summer trip and stay
home. I was lucky to have her. I knew that. Mrs. Danvers was the
closest thing I had to a mother. She’d raised me, let me live in her home, ever since the car accident that had taken away my own
parents. It was thanks to her that I had someone here at my
graduation at all.
Well, someone other than Cryder, that was.
He appeared at my elbow, materializing as if from nowhere
the way he always seemed to. “Congratulations,” he said, and Mrs.
Danvers raised her camera again and took a photo of the two of us
together.
I swatted at my boyfriend’s arm. “What have I said about
this?” I asked. “You can’t just creep up on people. Make a noise or
something. Let me know you’re behind me.”
He grinned and pulled me into an embrace. “It’s not my fault
you weren’t listening.”
“You’ve gotten better at acting human,” I told him. “But
you’ve still got a long way to go.”
“Well, we can set my human lessons aside for the moment,”
Cryder said. “It’s time for you to learn how to assimilate into my culture.”
My nerves sparked again.
I’d known it was coming, of course. I’d known for weeks
now, ever since I’d met Cryder and he’d told me about my family’s
history and my own strange nature.
“Are you sure we have to do this?” I asked him. “We
couldn’t just...just stay here?”
“You know we can’t,” he said. “And we agreed on this. We
agreed that it was the best course of action.”
“Cecile’s mom thinks we’re just going away for the
summer,” I said. “What are we going to tell her? How are we going
to explain why we’re not coming back?”
“We’ll figure something out,” he said, resting a hand on my
lower back.
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“Is it even possible that we might come back here someday?”
“Anything’s possible,” Cryder said. “You never can tell.”
***
Drake was waiting for us back at the house. He gave me a
quick hug when we got out of the car and then took Cecile in his
arms. Cryder looked away politely as they kissed, but I didn’t. It did me good to see my best friend get a little action.
“Do you kids have to go right to the airport?” Mrs. Danvers
asked. “Couldn’t you come in for some coffee cake?”
“Sorry, Mrs. Danvers,” Drake said. “We need to leave now if
we’re going to make it through international security in time to catch our flight to Rome.”
“Oh...well, all right,” she agreed, wringing her hands. “Call
me when you land, won’t you?”
“Of course, Mom.” Cecile hugged her mother. “And
remember, you can track the flight online, so you�
�ll be able to see
where we are the whole time. Do you still have the website I showed
you pulled up on the computer?”
“I’ve got it,” Mrs. Danvers said. “You’re sure you want to do
this?” “Definitely,” Cecile said.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Danvers,” I added. “Cryder has family in
Rome. They’ll be meeting us at the airport, and we’ll be staying with them for a while. So, it’s not like we’ll be alone.”
“All right,” Mrs. Danvers agreed. “You kids be safe.” She
hugged Cryder and Drake, each of whom responded somewhat
awkwardly. Neither of them seemed to have mastered the subtle
difference between the romantic hug and the hug of motherly
affection, and they dealt with their confusion by standing stiff as
boards and waiting for the event to be over.
We loaded our luggage into the back of Drake’s car, which
we would be abandoning at the airport. This was the part of the plan I found stupid—surely it would have been easier to find someone to
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give us a ride? But Drake had insisted. He loved driving in America, he said. It was so different from driving in Rome, and he was
determined to soak up every last bit of it.
Then, all too soon, we were driving away, leaving our home
behind us.
Cecile and I knelt in the backseat, our noses pressed to the
rear window, watching her mother. Mrs. Danvers was standing at
the end of her driveway and waving to us. “Do you think we’ll ever
see her again?” Cecile asked, swallowing as her voice hitched.
“Definitely,” I said. I felt guilty about the fact that Cecile had
gotten caught up in this. It hadn’t been my fault, exactly, but it
couldn’t be denied that if she hadn’t been my friend, none of this
would be happening to her. She would be off to college, like
everyone else in our class.
“We’ll come back for a visit someday,” Drake said.
Cryder cleared his throat, and I could tell he was trying to
discourage Drake from overpromising. Because the truth was, who
could say whether we ever would?
Who could say whether it would ever be safe for two
vampires of royal blood to be around humans?
The attack on Cecile—the attack that had been because of
me—had come from a vampire who thirsted for my potent royal
blood. Because of that attack, Cecile had been turned. She had lost
her very humanity thanks to her friendship with me.
I couldn’t risk that happening to Mrs. Danvers, or to anyone
else I loved.
Leaving was next to impossible. But coming back was likely
to be even harder. I knew I would have to stay away.
***
“Are you nervous?” Cryder asked.
“Of course, I’m nervous,” I said. The two of us had found
seats at the gate from which our plane would be departing. Now I
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lowered my voice so that none of the people sitting nearby would
hear. “I’ve only met three vampires in my life. You, Drake, and—” I
shuddered. “Bristol.”
“No one in my family is like Bristol,” Cryder assured me.
“They’re excited to meet you, not to eat you.”
“I mean, I know that,” I said. “But you did say the ritual I
would have to go through would be painful.”
Cryder hesitated. “Best not to think about that until we
arrive,” he said. “There’s no reason to overburden yourself.”
“I wish you would tell me what I was going to have to do,” I
said. It was hard flying to Rome with absolutely no idea of what I
was getting myself into.
“Is there anything I could tell you that would make you
change your mind?” he asked.
I knew it was a sincere question, so I gave it the
consideration it deserved. “No,” I said finally. “I want to be with
you.” I was a little frightened by how badly I wanted to be with
Cryder. I had never had serious feelings for a guy before him. To go from that, to wanting to devote my eternal soul to somebody, was
disconcerting to say the least.
And then there was the idea of being a part of the royal
family. By marrying Cryder, I would become queen to his king. I
had no idea what that was going to entail, and it was a frightening
thought. Would I have to rule? I had no idea how to even begin to do that. But if I stayed here, if I declined Cryder’s offer to go to
Rome...well, then more like Bristol were going to come. And soon.
Bristol. The violent and terrifying vampire who had pursued
me for weeks, thirsted for my blood, who had turned my best friend,
just because she was unlucky enough to be in his way.
The loudspeaker crackled to life. “Flight 472 to Rome, Italy
is now boarding,” the attendant said.
Cryder got to his feet, pulling me along with him. Even
though we had been together for months now, his strength never
ceased to amaze me. It was a quality he said I would have myself
someday, but for now my muscles remained small and human. The
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quantities of vampire venom I drank on a regular basis didn’t do
much more than prevent me from atrophying completely.
Cecile came scampering over, a stack of magazines and a
sudoku book in her hand. “Did you hear? We’re boarding. It’s time
to go!” I had to laugh. Cecile never let anything get her down. Even when she’d learned that she’d been bitten; that she was a part of the vampire world forever, she had adjusted to the idea remarkably
quickly. I was constantly impressed by my friend.
And I was thoroughly grateful for the fact that I’d have her
with me in the coming days. At least there would be something
familiar. Something from home.
We got in line, dragging our carry-on luggage behind us, and
headed up the jetway that led to the plane. I kept one hand firmly on my passport. I’d never left the country before, and I was terrified
that something would go wrong.
Although, considering all the strange and frightening things
that were waiting for me when I landed in Rome, losing my passport
should have been the least of my worries.
Cryder led me to our seats in the front of the plane. He’d
been able to afford first class, probably because of his family’s
wealth. I had never exactly come out and asked Cryder how much
money he had, but I knew that as a member of the royal family it
had to be a lot. So, that was one more thing I would have to adjust
to. I’d never been poor, but the Danvers family was solidly middle-class. That was the only life I knew.
The flight attendant brought us drinks. It was strange to see
Cryder doing something as basic and human as sipping a cola. I was
used to seeing him try to blend in with my human friends—it was a
necessary part of spending time together while I was still in
school—but neither he nor Drake had really gotten the hang of it.
Everything they did was always deliberate, not as if they were really human but as if they were playing human beings in a movie or
something.
Before long, I’d probably be like that myself. I’d have
forgotten everything that came naturally to me now about being a
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human girl and blending in as a part of the human world. I would be
a vampire, through and through.
But this was the choice I’d made. I had decided to embrace
my vampire side and to pursue this new life. I had to go all in.
I closed my eyes and steeled myself as the plane’s engines
roared to life.
There was no turning back now.
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Chapter Two
I hadn’t expected to sleep on the plane. But I hadn’t anticipated how comfortable our first-class seats would be. A couple of hours into
the flight, an attendant came by and helped me recline mine,
transforming it into a bed. She even made it up with a blanket and
pillow for me. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable bed I’d ever slept in in my life, but it was a lot nicer than anything I’d expected on a flight. I awoke several hours later to find Cryder kneeling beside
me, his hand on my shoulder, his dark hair messier than usual. I
knew he didn’t sleep, but he must have been lying in his little bed so as not to arouse suspicion or draw attention. I reached out to comb
his hair back into place with my fingers.
He smiled. “We’ll be landing soon,” he said. “I thought
you’d like to see Rome from the air.”
I did want to see that. I sat up and looked out my window.
“It’s only clouds,” I complained.
He smiled. “You’ll see more as we come down. The flight
attendant is coming to turn your bed back into a seat and to give you a snack for breakfast.” Then he was gone, as if he hadn’t been there.
I shook my head. He moved so quickly sometimes! People were
going to notice that if he wasn’t careful.
The flight attendant was at my side. I got out of bed so that
she could rearrange my space back into a seat. When I was sitting
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and buckled in, she handed me a cup of juice with a foil lid and a
packet of granola. I hadn’t eaten much of the dinner service last
night—I’d been too nervous about what lay ahead—and I found that
I was extremely hungry now. I tore into my granola with gusto.
About fifteen minutes later, the plane started to descend. I
pressed my nose to the window, taking in the sight of Rome from
the air. The buildings were shaped so differently from what I was